Every year, rather, every Christmas season, a certain type of people group and gather– The Single People. Dubbed “Samahan ng Malalamig ang Pasko”. Figuratively na malamig dahil walang dine-date, according to Urban Dictionary, Joy version. Figuratively nagsasama-sama, feeling a sense of community and not being alone somehow as they are part of this figurative society of people who are single.

Figuratively or literally, they group and gather this Christmas season.

Literally as in: Family reunions filled with relatives who are fresh out of breakups or have long been waiting for someone to love and bring to family reunions– gathering ’round the KTV machine, singing songs of heartaches, not really minding the scores on the screens, tapping each other on the shoulder after each song as if saying “I understand you, kasin. Okay lang yan”; While the titos and titas mind their own business, and the respective parents just smiling but wondering inside “Ano kayang pinagdadaanan ng anak ko?”

By grace, this year, I’m able to see the positive side of being single on Christmas (and the months prior). I’m not chasing the last train to see someone and spend time with a love I do not know will last. Instead I got to spend time with my family. Multiplying Christmas day (and days I am single) to 365 or more, it’s days I get to spend with loved ones– relationships I’ve been blessed with, relationships that help me grow. Relationships that are given me to nourish with Time (spent with them in simple random moments or special ones) and Prayer (praying for their continuous joy, provision of needs, protection, and new life through Christ).

This Christmas, this season, I choose to see the blessings than the so-called lack. Friends, we are not alone. We are with family and friends. We are blessed to have been taken out of relationships not meant for us. Living to work for one person’s happiness is not our life’s purpose. Malamig ang Pasko, literally. Pero malaya (na) tayo.

Let me tell you a story of that time men were on a boat during a storm, in pitch black darkness, with howling winds and strong rains. And they were missing one person in the boat. The horror. Spoiler: the “missing” one got them out of the storm

To steady the fears of the disciples in the boat, Jesus did not say “You guys can weather this storm, hang on.” (Trusting on our own strength isn’t enough. And maybe he won’t use ‘guys’.)

He did not say “This storm shall pass, trust that it shall pass.” (Sometimes it’s hard to gather peace from a circumstantial silver lining that is still distant despite how sure it may be.)

Instead, he said that it is him with them during that storm. The rock. The maker and holder of all things. The compassionate father who hears every prayer.

“It is I.”

If the great I AM is for us, who can be against us? Neither strong wind and rain outside, nor any raging storm inside us. That’s his promise. And the only way to find out if a promise is true is holding on to it until it happens.

Ever had that one person you’ve fought so hard for? That you did everything to keep that person? Your heart ablaze, your mind set. Justified in our heads that “I love (blank). (Blank) is worth it”.

Some years ago, someone did what it would take to win you back.
From enemy to child. From fallen to found. From rebel to royalty.

Some years ago, someone did what it would take to keep you and nothing can take you away from his love. Not your past. Not your fears. Neither death nor life, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation

He fought for you and I. He fought a good fight. He fought hard, fought on our behalf because we’ll never be in fighting form nor win left to ourselves. He fought death.

He gave his best on the cross, was buried and–proving He is the Son of God– rose three days later. He gave nothing less than what it would take to pay for, not his debts, but ours. To win YOU back, because YOU are worth it.

But now He’s close. And you are His again.

When we fought for that one person, we dropped everything, did whatever it would take. I pray that as we fight to keep God front and center of our lives, we set our eyes on doing whatever it takes to keep the Love of our lives. It would take a lot of trusting and faith, but worth it. May we fall in love everyday with he who is so in love with us.

Jesus replied, “You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” -Matthew 22:37 (ESV)

From Urban Rescue’s full-length album WILD HEART, Never Stop is the perfect song for anyone who finds themselves in a dip or a slump. Does your bes feel like God doesn’t love her anymore? Put earphones on her, play this on your iPod and see a smile etch across her face. The song reminds us of God’s relentless, endless and persistent love. Regardless of the place we find ourselves in—the valleys and the shadows– God will chase us and bring us back to His love, conquering canyons of fears and oceans of tears. He will be there in the lowest places and darkest hours because compared to His love there is “no mountain higher, no river wider”.

Never Stop perfectly depicts the awesome God who is bigger than anything and yet closer to us than anything else in this world. The song describes God as the sunshine on our skin, as the moon that pulls anything close to it, and—much closer—He’s closer than the air we breathe.

Following the simple but meaningful verses, the song’s bridge perfectly depicts the finished work of Christ in which we are victorious over sin as He has paid the price on the cross, making sin lose its foothold over us.

“I see my chains unraveling
All of my shame for victory
I feel my heart run wild and free
There is no place I’d rather be”

The song’s upbeat melody balances this impactful reminder of God’s love for us.

Never Stop helps one sing praise for the daily renewing of our souls, the re-installed communication line we have with God and the hope against all the world’s hopelessness, all made possible through Jesus Christ.

For the wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. –Romans 6:23

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Writer’s Bio: Joy is a freelance marketing consultant who writes songs about Jesus, and curates play lists on Spotify, outside of work hours. She keeps a blog (joycamillegomez.wordpress.com) to journal her days of being young-in-the-Lord.

It was hard to believe at first: All businesses are in the marketing business, all employees are marketing specialists.

This perspective helped me see how marketing is a collaborative effort for everyone in the company. And how marketing efforts will only succeed if everyone is in it. It doesn’t stop with the company shirts printed out and worn by the employees, with the layout, supplier and cost approved by the marketing head. It matters, too, how the employees wearing the shirts are doing. Say, in an event, a grumpy employee wearing the shirt with tatterred jeans can set a different notion about the company compared to that of an employee wearing the same shirt with a blazer and cheerfully greeting everyone.

In John Jantsch’s book Duct Tape Marketing, he defines marketing as the system in which you make people:

know

like

trust

contact

refer

you.

In a company, it isn’t just the marketing team who wants these 5 things to happen. More so, they’re not the only people who get to meet clients (Hi, Account Management.); improve on the product and service (Product Management, looking at you.); or get people fit for the role and the culture (Hello, HR.) Everyone in the company would want their company to be known, liked, trusted, contacted and referred. And the good news is everyone can take part in making that happen.

Some may probably ask, how can that happen? Every touch point of business-to-client is an opportunity to either make them know, like, trust, contact or refer you, or drive them away. Which means every email you shoot, every meeting they agree to, every interesting website article you post– all this can help or botch your chance of bringing them closer to entrusting you in providing solutions for their needs. It lies on how you do it. How thorough the planning was before execution, how able and empowered your people are, how consistently applied your company’s values are throughout your team. With the right how’s and the the 5 goals above as your why, marketing shouldn’t be a daunting task .

But how about small businesses? They’re not part of this, right? Small businesses actually have a pool of low cost marketing in their hands– their own product and service, and word of mouth. They don’t need to throw in a lot of cash to be successful at marketing their business. While everyone is trying to figure out what marketing really means and which agency to tap, the excellent work you do will speak for itself. This will be the backbone of every marketing effort. Dare I say that the excellent work is part of the marketing effort.

Marketing is a fun day-to-day grind for everyone in the company. You just might not know it, but you’re already doing a great job at it.